James Michael Joly of New York City died on Sunday, Jan. 23, 2011 at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston from head injuries sustained during a fall. He was 34 years old.
James was born on Sept. 30, 1976 in Brookline, MA to Gene and Siri Joly. He grew up in Melrose, MA, Nashua, NH and Wakefield, MA, and graduated with the WHS class of 1994. James attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy NY and graduated in 1999 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering. He joined the RPI chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, served as Rush Chairman for one semester and President for two, and remained active in SAE throughout his life. Despite being trained as a chemical engineer James spent most of his career as a Web/IT professional. He started out during the original dot com boom and was self-taught in web development and software programming. James co-authored the book Early Adopter Curl in 2001 and founded the software firm Unifact in 2005. For the past three years he served as Chief Technology Officer at Virtu Financial in Manhattan.
In addition to his parents James is survived by his grandparents Dr. Eugene M. and Patricia Joly, Cecile Joly, Erik and Joan Thomassen, and Antoinette Eacock-Thomassen; sisters Anneliese Wyler and Helena Gardner; 2 brothers in law; 4 nieces and nephews; 8 great-aunts and uncles; 20 aunts and uncles; 28 cousins; girlfriend Jodi Friedman; and countless friends in the Boston, New York and Los Angeles areas and around the world.
A private series of memorial events will take place the weekend of Feb. 19-20. Anyone wanting to make a charitable donation in the name of James Michael Joly may send a check to: Massachusetts General Hospital, Phillip W. Kent Free Bed Fund for Needy Patients, 165 Cambridge Street, Suite 600, Boston, MA 02114.
James was extraordinarily caring and genuinely loved. He was brilliant, charismatic and generous. He leaves behind a large, loving family and legions of friends. He will be missed forever.
Read James Joly's Obituary and Guestbook on www.mcdonaldfs.com.
Service
Private